I'm...so...BLUE-hoo-hoo...

We're on the heels of countless weeks full of activity & things have come crashing to a halt. I'm feeling a little lost & blah (for lack of a better word). I just want to curl up with a good Jane Austen movie & crochet...forget about cleaning the pee on the bathroom floor, or the honey stuck to my kitchen floor, or the junk strewn hither & yon throughout the house! Phil is finishing a job down the street & likes to check in periodically to see "how things are going". Really it's to see if I'm working as hard as he is. So I just have to look busy until after lunch when he'll be going to a job 20 min. out of town. :) haha. I am devious. The kids are ready for school too. Or maybe I'm ready for the kids to go to school. At this point in the summer, it's too hot to be outside & too many hours spent together inside encourages aggravation & irritation. We only have one week of summer vacation left & we should make the most of it. Time to find something to motivate me...

A boy & his bear

We have had many stuffed animals come & go at our house, but none has had quite the special bond that Daniel & Beary do. From the time Daniel could hold & cuddle his bear, they have been constant companions. It's true that Beary does endure some abuse - being left at the bottom of the laundry basket, thrown out of bed when Daniel is crabby, and stuffed into various suitcases. But most of the time he is well loved & is Daniel's nap & nighttime buddy.

Daniel is still our early riser & often climbs into bed with us for a few precious minutes. We had quite the interesting conversation about Beary this morning. Daniel explained that Beary was little when he was a baby, but now he's growing up & pretty soon he'll be really big. Then we asked Daniel why he doesn't sleep in like his siblings & he explained it was Beary's fault for telling him, "Wake up, Daniel, wake UP!" Phil said he'll have to have a talk with Beary. "He doesn't even listen to anything anyone tells him!", Daniel exclaimed. (Sounds like someone else we know.)

THIS is a story...

THIS is 1100 pounds of honey.

THIS is the honey that wouldn't fit in the honey room.

(An additional 700 pounds.)

THIS is the man that brought home this ridiculous amount of honey.

(I do love him so!)

THESE are the bees that are desperately

trying to find their way home.

THESE are the beautiful children we bore

to help us extract all this honey.

(The bucket - watcher)

(The jug - washers)

(The extractor - spinner)

Favorite things

I love it when things are simplified & organized. This is especially true in my kitchen. Though these days, anyone that walks through my front door would believe otherwise, as my kitchen is rarely clean & clear of clutter. (Welcome to summer & four kids!) For something to "live" on my countertop, it has to be useful & well-used. This summer I pulled this ice shaver out of the recesses of my cupboard & we've used it almost every day to make slushs. The kids love taking turns mixing the juice, picking out the cups & straws, shaving the ice & pouring the juice. We made orange juice slushs for lunch...so it's a healthy treat too!

Another favorite at our house are these Hawaiian sandwiches. Okay, so they're not an authentic Hawaiian dish, but we can pretend they are! We love whole wheat buns...two slices of ham, some pineapple, and Swiss cheese...just a touch of mayo & pop them in a 350 degree oven for 10 min. Yum! It's a perfect summer lunch...and one of our family's favorite things.

Sick kids

Warning: This post contains gross material. Please do not read if you have just eaten. :)

I personally have an aversion to vomiting. I try to avoid it at all costs. I'd rather force it back down than go through with allowing it to come up. It's what I hated most about my pregnancies. I think I was only really sick with Grace, the other three I just had to deal with nausea the first trimester...which is not fun, but manageable. Daniel's C-section was weird because I had a reaction to some medication & was dry heaving through the whole surgery. Okay...enough about that. As much as I hate experiencing it myself, it is much worse to watch my kids go through it.

For some reason Grace always seems to take the brunt of any sickness that goes around our house. She must have a weaker immune system or something. Noah got sick & threw up Sunday morning & by bedtime that night, he was running around the house & wrestling with Phil. Grace complained of her tummy hurting before they left for church, but this is not unusual, as her tummy often acts up when there are chores to be done or a meal she doesn't care for. So we dismissed her complaints, and sent her off to church with Phil, Abbie & Daniel. Half-way through the service, she proved her claims & Phil brought her home. Last night was rough as I was up with her about every 30 minutes, and she was a trooper to hang out in the van this morning while her siblings were at swim lessons. 36 hours later, she's started showing signs of improvement, but we checked her again before bed & she's running a fever. I teased her that she has to get better by Wednesday so we can all go swimming. Her sweet smile showed she's feeling good enough to get her sense of humor back. I'm just praying she's back to herself after a good night's sleep & that this vomitting bug leaves our home for good. And hopefully before it catches up with ME!

July...in a nutshell

We spent the 4th of July in Lexington with our Voth cousins. We took over the Pizza Hut & hotel pool...12 people have the ability to do that! It was a great way to start off our vacation.

After 25 hours of driving we arrived at our destination - Smithfield, Va - for a Narwold family reunion. If you thought 12 was loud...just imagine 57 people in 2 homes! :) We visited Williamsburg, got to ride a ferry, swam in the Atlantic at Virginia beach...




...we went on a major "group" date out for ice cream...

...and had a birthday party for all the kids.

What is it about kids in colorful shirts that looks so cute?

We left a couple days early & headed North...
...spent a few hours in Washington, D.C...

...then we reached our final destination of Hartford, CT where we spent a day with Phil's brother & wife. They took us canoeing & it was fun activity we got to do all together as a family. We left then next morning & made it safely the 27 hours home.

This week is VBS & a flurry of activity as the kids are also involved in swim lessons. It's hard to believe summer is coming to a close & school is less than a month away. It really has flown by.

If you're interested in more pictures from our trip, check out my facebook page.

Summer fun

I'm not always the most creative, fun-loving mom...Phil does a great job of being that balance. But I have managed to relax enough for two big "crafts" in the past weeks. Last week I let the kids each tie dye a Tshirt. That was slightly stressful. This week, they got to do paper-mache & paint their creations. In truth, they only got them painted halfway because I reached my limit of stopping Daniel's near catastrophes & I was done. I'd rather stick to coloring or play dough or cutting & pasting.

Noah has started a new "trend" around here. Every morning he wants to dress up as a cowboy...which really means he wants to wear his Sunday clothes, his cowboy hat, & boots. I keep thinking he's got to be so hot, but he doesn't seem to care. Daniel joined the fun this morning & they wandered around the house for about 30 minutes looking for water for their horses because "without water, they're gonna DIE!" They packed up all their stuffed animals for their long trip, which takes place on the bottom bed of their room.

Abbie has been consuming books & so Grace has been bored w/ nothing to do. Every night the girls go to bed & I listen to them fight & bicker for an hour...or for as long as I can stand it...and then I go in & threaten & yell...and it never does any good. So last night, I just calmly went in there & without say anything, I directed them each to the floor on either side of their bed & gave them each a sheet. Grace cried for 10 min. & was out like a light. Abbie was up 10 min. later with a complaint - "Mom, I don't like sleeping on the floor, it's too tight between the bed & the wall." I gave her a blank look with, "I don't like it when you & your sister fight every night." She went back to her room. Another 15 min. & she still wasn't asleep, so I allowed her back in the bed...it is tight down there. I hope they learned their lesson though. I guess we'll find out tonight. No, wait...Abbie will be sleeping @ a friend's & Grace will be crying that she can't sleep when Abbie's not there!!